“Headmistress?” His eyes were teacup saucers. There before his friends, who stood rigidly, like their armor was locked up, was a 9ft tall crone. A literal hag, a Baba Yaga, a… wart covered, old, wrinkled matron with thin spiderweb hair and a mouth covered in part by a giant, crooked nose covered in skin tags and moles. This was a hideous lady, but her eyes were kind, and her voice was the voice of their headmistress.

  “What the hell is going on?” he took a deep, unsteady breath gathering his courage as his father taught him to.

  “Easy enough, young Lord de Brock. I am your headmistress,” the ridiculous witch bowed, her dress shifting and her face becoming soft and familiar. She looked just like his headmistress, “but, more importantly, and more truthfully, I am an Avis. One of the three oldest living creatures in the universe.”

  An Avis? Their headmistress was an Avis?

  “Why?” Helos’ shaky question lingered a few extra seconds.

  The being before them, voice and face still their headmistress, spoke carefully, “I will try and be as honest with you three as I can. I need you, you see. Let me tell you the abbreviated story of the Avis, perhaps, it will explain who I am,” she sat, still towering over them, even seated. The room around her darkened, images began to play up the walls as her words filled their suits speakers.

  “In the beginning of the universe, the Clockmaker started all things. We do not know what started the Clockmaker. We were the second beings to be created. Before us was only the Clockmaker. I was one of the first, but hardly the very first. That was our dear leader, my grandfather Coriandas. I am the 15th oldest of the Avis. 16th oldest of the living beings in the universe.” There was a note of deep pride in her voice. The three suited children were standing easily in their power suits around her. Auberje in his grey and green. Riley in her red and gold. Helos in his white and silver.

  “Much has happened since I was your age. The Avis took to the universe easily. We built and bred, expanded, explored, created. We were the architects of the universe. We seeded a billion planets with the Seeds of Life, a heady mix of bacteria and oxygen, amongst other ingredients of life.”

  The imagery on the walls showed billions of dark planets growing green. They grew out of a single galaxy, the home galaxy of the Avis. It was far from the Milky Way out beyond Andromeda further and further away the green planets grew.

  “We visited our Seedlings, acting like their gods in some cases, like with you humans, and in other cases as their friends. In some cases, we ended planets full of beings who sought the destruction of the world. There were not enough of us to cover every planet, every Seed.” She sighed, her voice growing sad, the lights dimmed again.

  “In our expediency, we built a shortcut that spelled our downfall.”

  Riley cut in, “You built Ais, didn’t you?”

  “Correct, my smart girl, correct. We designed the Shapers. Brilliant machine minds who spun themselves across the Clockmaker’s creation. The beautiful, brilliant machines did so much good. They helped our creations and us manage billions of planets and species. It was a time of great hope. Slowly, the cracks in our plan, the Shaper’s very desire to be seen as equal to biological creatures began to overtake their good work. They rebelled. We fought. We died, and most of the Shapers also perished. I will spare you all the details. There were atrocities on both sides, it was a terrible war. In the end, only 3 of us remained and a dozen Shapers. We reached a… truce. Peace is too strong of a word. Truce is closer. An understanding. And so, we parted, and millennia passed. In the far corner of the universe, a Seedling of ours began to experiment with biological enhancements.”

  The walls showed a planet with green and black continents in a galaxy a few hundred closer to the center of the universe than the Milky Way. “A peaceful Seedling became the insatiable monster Harx. A race even the Shapers are fearful of, even us three Avis with our galaxies of resources and billions of years of technological head start, even we few look at the Harx and worry for the future of all of our children.”

  “They are real then. The Harx, the Tembre, the Avis, the Qalid, all of them.” Auberje wasn’t asking but rolling their names on his tongue and thinking of them in his mind. The implications were immense.

  “Yes,” she answered anyway, “yes, they are real. All of them and 72,000 other races. Most of the others have one planet or are only present on the few worlds I have hidden, Raven has hidden. Toma on the other hand, has sheltered you humans. Out of all the races, choosing to be your Odin, your Zeus, your Prometheus,” she sounded bitter.

  “What god were you to us?” Riley asked, softly but then followed more harshly, “what myths should we be wary of because they describe you.” Riley had tried multiple methods of communication with Auberje and Helos but Caran Avis, the great hag, was stopping all of them. She even tried communicating with hand signals and sign language. That was why their armor was stopped.

  The hag was whispering to her separately from what she was saying to the group. Riley could hear both, but she couldn’t stop shivering as the voice whispered to her, trying to calm her down.

  “Trust me, little girl. I am your headmistress. Safe and on your side,” the voice was calm, soft, lilting but it continued to send terror up Riley’s back. This was a being who was infinitely old, who could control her power armor suit with a thought. She had no way to fight back against her. “Let me tell my story, little girl, and we can talk after. I will assuage all your fears…”

  The voice continued. The boys, on the other hand, heard only her story. They sensed nothing wrong. They did hear her question, “What god were you to us?”

  “I was Hera, Hecate, Minerva, and the Muses. I was the three Fates. I was Freya and Diana. I was Anansi and Osiris and Isis. I was Nuwa. I was Ix Chel, the Jaguar goddess. They called me Lady Rainbow. I was a mother and a witch. I still am. I would be a mother and witch for you three too,” She smiled her headmistress smile. Stern, yet matronly and approachable.

  Auberje and Helos smiled back inside their suits. “What can we do for you, headmistress? We are just three children.”

  “You can be my hands, my hearts, my ears, and eventually my revenge,” she said without hesitation, without reservation. Her face displayed a dramatic visage, fervor for justice.

  “To help you destroy the Harx?” Auberje spoke, his voice threads of awe and excitement. A quest! It's a real-life quest from a god. Amazing!

  Helos, “Yes, and the AI that attacked your people? Are we going to help keep the universe safe for life?”

  “Yes, yes!” Caran Avis nearly purred the words, Riley tried to move her hands again but still no luck. “I need the three of you to finish the race first, then I will contact you. Please don’t contact me at school. I won’t be able to show myself there. Always know that I will contact you when I need your help. For now, I need you to grow strong and smart. I am counting on all of you to get better and better. When you head home during the holidays, I will contact you again. I may even have you fly out here to Temple Remnant or some of the other Temple Remnants I have left in the universe. You will get the full picture of the universe outside of Toma Avis’s shield galaxy.”

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  “Toma Avis? Oh, right, Zeus. What is his shield galaxy?” Helos implored, his words were joyous with tones of satisfaction and wonder.

  “Why the Milky Way, my children,” She raised her hands like Vanna White, holding her palm up as the light show changed to display the Milky Way. “My husband, Toma Avis has put all his eggs, humanity, in a single basket and he has surrounded the basket with a nearly impenetrable field of energy. This is why you don’t see millions and billions of alien visitors. Sentients who are not human beings from Terra are not allowed to pass in or out of the great energy shield.”

  “But you can,” Riley’s tone was anything but like the boys. Ice in the veins, ice in the words, “You can travel freely through the shield.”

  “Well, yes, my child, there are few things that I cannot do. I am an Avis after all; we are a power unto ourselves, even with just three of us. Also, my husband has never sought to avoid me. Only to avoid Raven. Though I think he lets Raven come and go as they please, too.” The headmistress was lecturing again, which was fine by Helos and Auberje.

  “So, finish the race, children, and then wait for me to contact you. And do not contact me at school. I am entirely unable to hide what goes on from our mutual enemies there. While physical Harx cannot come here, the Shapers’ legacy AI can. We can expect they are listening to most conversations not on Temple Remnants. Fair?”

  “Uh, Mother Caran Avis, ma’am,” Auberje stuttered, “Could you give us some boon to aid us? Perhaps some technology or knowledge to help us complete our journey quickly?” Auberje watched her closely, hoping he wasn’t being presumptuous.

  “Of course, my dear boy, I am nothing but generous to my faithful followers and helpers,” Caran Avis brought the lights up. The room was filled with strange objects which had not been there before.

  “These are technologies from races the Hax have destroyed. Each is unique and different from Terran or Human technology. You can each pick one thing from them. I wish I could stay to watch, but I am called away. Remember, do not contact me at school. I will be in touch with you all soon. And good racing, my children.” The lights dropped, their suits turned off, and then rebooted. There were no visuals and no power for a brief, interminable period.

  The lights came back on, Caran Avis was nowhere to be found.

  “Holy hell, guys! This is incredible. And scary! The Harx are scary. Insatiable and ever hungry,” Helos couldn’t contain himself in his excitement. His mic crackled as he overloaded it with his childish screams of joy. He was hardly alone.

  “There are killer AI out there, we are going to have to upgrade our computer systems, ”Auberje looked around him, viewing all the pedestals full of data cards, small components, and holograms of things like ships and space stations. It is an incredible trove of literally irreplaceable treasure.

  “Yes, extremely exciting. We should pick quickly and get out of here. We have much to talk about, but we are also in a race,” Riley felt sick. She glanced around the room. There were about thirty pedestals along each wall, over 100 in total. She was looking for something innocuous. Something she could take and figure out later. There were no signs as to what anything was or guides to choosing the right treasure. “Let's hurry, guys. Please. I want to be back on the Triumvirate.”

  Hearing something of her terror, Auberje made as if to come over to her, but hugging in power armor was pointless and when he looked at her, she shook her head like she read his thoughts. Later it is, he thought. He looked around him, “Right, we have a race to win still. Let me think. I want something powerful and strong. The Harx subsumed these races all, so they either didn’t have strong enough technology or were not numerous enough to win a fight against them, or they were surprised by them. Maybe I can pick something like a ship or… as he looked around, he saw it. A 3-dimensional hologram floated above a corner pedestal. On it was what looked suspiciously like a mech or Gundam-style vehicle.

  While the technology to make these vehicles existed now, they were deemed wildly impractical. Inferior even to ships. There were a few of them out there still, but he really wanted one in real life. He went over the pedestal. The 3-dimensional image showed an alien script above and below a surprisingly humanoid looking vehicle, two arms, two legs, a bunch of lasers? Some type of missile pods too. As he stood before it, the 3-D image spun, flew about, and showed triangles flying off it and impacting ships. These ships bore the symbol of the Harx. The ships exploded. The mech spun, and suddenly, a massive blade appeared in its hands. It struck out, and the ship in front of it exploded into a thousand pieces.

  “Damn, that’s a good choice, Auberje!” Helos stood next to him, watching with him. “Are you going to take it? If you don’t, I might. I was thinking of this other one over here.”

  Auberje considered it, “Yes, I think I am.” He picked up the little projector. His suit immediately beeped at him, a notification popping up on his HUD.

  “Would you like to accept the plans for the Minnut ‘Endless Killing Machine Mark II’ Project Neon?”

  He eyeclicked yes. Auberje saw a download bar appear and seconds later he had the plans for the Minnut EKM Mark II Neon downloaded into his suit’s hard drives. He added a backup copy to his personal drives he always carried on him. Never hurts to have redundancies.

  He shook himself, following Helos to another pedestal. On it were a dozen different ship designs, each displaying information in an unknown language and number format. “These look really cool, but what about this?”

  Helos pointed to a strange device. One of the dozen physical objects in the room was a lump of black metal or rock. From it emanated a terrible and fearsome feeling like being watched from a dark alley on a moonless night on the wrong side of the tracks.

  “That? What attracts you to that? I think it might be dangerous,” Auberje asked his friend, trying to scratch his head in thought but realizing at the last moment he was still suited up.

  “We need stuff that is good at killing the Harx, right? Something about it makes me think it will be good at killing,” Helos stared at it with genuine desire.

  Auberje got slightly creeped out, “No, I think you should take the ships. We can always research rocks like that one in the future. Better to take the ship designs and give us a sense of what we are missing in Terran designs.”

  “Alright, fine. But I want one of those mecha things you picked out,” Helos reluctantly turned away from the black glass, metal, rock blob thing.

  “Done, Riles,” Helos intoned. They turned to find their companion standing before a small square object.

  “You good, Riley? What are you picking out?” Auberje asked.

  “I think I am going to take this. Let’s go,” She snatched up the small deck of card sized object, putting it in her suit’s storage compartment and heading back toward the door she had come in with Helos from.

  “Not that way; I had to move the ship. This way,” Auberje said as he steered her suited frame through the door he had walked through. This time, there were no lights on the ground leading the way back to the ship. The entire Temple Remnant seemed lifeless again. They made their way outside. The black void of space greeted them. Each breathed just a little easier in their suits.

  Auberje was elated. He felt purpose in his life like never before. He was going to help an ancient alien revenge herself on the terrible AI that killed her race, and she was going to help them destroy the appalling scourge of all sentient beings, the Harx. What more could a boy ask for?

  He took his suited arms and placed them around his companions. The three paused and took in their ship, the one that Caran Avis had parked at the next spot.

  “Is that a flying saucer?” Helos balked, mouth agape.

  “I think it might be! Wow, those Avis must have been visiting Terra for a long time. I can’t believe it. I wonder what kind of amazing technology they have on it?” Auberje started to head toward it.

  Riley pulled him back, “No, we don’t have time right now. We need to get on the Triumvirate and get back to the race. I am not convinced this is really one of the official stops we get credit for completing.” That unhappy thought pulled Auberje and Helos out of their idol stupor. They started running toward the Triumvirate, laughing as they went. “Last one back is a rotten egg!” Helos announced. Their antics even made Riley smile as she steeled herself. She arrived at the ship right before Helos. Auberje had beaten them both by quite a bit. He was already much more attuned to his suit than either of the others. It helped he had a few dozen hours in it, over the last two missions, but it was also close to other suits he was familiar with from home.

  They stripped off the suits, took to their chairs with abandon. Riley programmed a jump, then another. She spun them on their axis, pointing the mighty Triumvirate “upward.”

  “What are you doing, Riles?” Auberje asked. Each jump was an unpleasant compression of self. They usually didn’t take this many. She didn’t answer. Instead, the Triumvirate jumped again. The ship’s systems couldn’t take much more. They were not designed to jump again and again and again so quickly.

  “Riley! Stop, we are going to blow a coil and be stuck somewhere far from rescue,” through gritted teeth, Auberje stood up out of his seat. He half leapt; half fell to her command chair. Grabbing her hands he pulled her from her seat. Her eyes flashed from some pursuing unseen horror.

  “Riley, what has gotten into you?” Auberje, mouth agape, looked at her now prone form. She was soaked in cold sweat. “Are you sick?”

  “Oh Auberje, I am only sick with fear. Fear…” Riley exclaimed, “How are you not?”